Around the Sun R.E.M.

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CD - Digi-Pak

  • Release Date: 10/05/2004
  • Sales Rank: 10,964
  • Label: WARNER BROS / WEA
  • UPC: 093624889427

Listener Rating: (8 ratings)

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CD - Special Edition$25.69
CD - WITH DVD AUDIO DISC$21.89

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  • Overview
  • Tracks
  • Editorial Reviews
  • Customer Reviews
  • Details & Credits
Track List
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Around the Sun

1LISTENLeaving New York 4:49
2LISTENElectron Blue 4:12
3LISTENThe Outsiders 4:14
4LISTENMake It All Okay 3:44
5LISTENFinal Straw 4:07
6LISTENI Wanted to Be Wrong 4:35
7LISTENWanderlust 3:03
8LISTENBoy in the Well 5:22
9LISTENAftermath 3:53
10LISTENHigh Speed Train 5:03
11LISTENThe Worst Joke Ever 3:38
12LISTENThe Ascent of Man 4:07
13LISTENAround the Sun 4:28

About this Artist

Editorial Reviews

R.E.M have issued several stock-taking albums over the years, discs that depart fairly significantly from their signature sound, offering some of the band's most emotionally naked songs. That's certainly what's happening with Around the Sun, the band's first new studio offering in three years. While it would be stretching things to say that there's no guitar jangle in evidence here, that's not the sonic focus. "Electron Blue," an echoey, post-millennial take on Bachrach/David-style pop, drifts along on a subtle-but-insistent drum loop; piano infuses the elegant, melancholy "Leaving New York," apparently a look back at the dying embers of a relationship that finds Michael Stipe pondering all manner of what-ifs. At times, the lack of centering is somewhat maddening -- "The Outsiders," which features a superfluous cameo by rapper Q-Tip, meanders aimlessly through midlife-crisis territory -- but more often, it's compelling to lie back and let the melodies lap gently at the synapses. That's a good way to experience "The Final Straw," an acoustic guitar–laced mini-drama that's got traces of Lee Hazlewood and Richard Thompson in its dusky DNA. On the other hand, songs like the waltz-time "Wanderlust," which gives a post-rock makeover to Brecht-Weill cabaret ambiance, are more likely to grab the listener by the hand for a traipse around Stipe's ebbing and flowing stream of consciousness. Titular brightness aside, Around the Sun carries with it a little piece of pre-sunrise murk, the sort of dream-state worldview that can comfort -- or chill -- like nothing that usually appears in the light of day. David Sprague, Barnes & Noble

Customer Reviews

Around the Sunby Anonymous

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March 16, 2005: This is an excellant album. When I first put it in, I was unsure. I cannot stop listening to it. I like the fact that it puts me in a good head space. Maybe this album represents where they are at in their lives right now. I think it is great

Around the Sunby Anonymous

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December 25, 2004: UNFORTUNEATELY IT SEEMS LIKE THE R.E.M FIRE THAT HAD BURNED SO BRIGHTLY IN THE 80'S IS JUST ABOUT READY TO GO OUT. THE ABSENCE OF DRUMMER ,BILL BERRY SINCE THE LATE 90'S HAS HURT R.E.M IMMENSELY.SINCE THEN THEY HAVE PUT OUT NOTHING MORE THAN AVERAGE ALBUMS THAT CAN'T COMPARE TO BETTER EARLIER OUTINGS AND THIS ALBUM DOES NOT BREAK THE PATTERN.KEEP YOUR EAR ON THE SECOND HALF OF THIS ONE, THOUGH.THEY KEEP THIS RECORDING'S HEAD ABOVE WATER AND SAVE IT FROM A COMPLETE DROWNING.


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